How BMW created a mixed reality brand experience where drivers get behind the wheel – wearing a VR headset - Digiday

It mightiness look unsafe to beryllium down the instrumentality of a sports car without looking done the windshield, but this wasn’t designed for mean streets; BMW designed it connected the company’s trial track, but the bundle tin accommodate and re-create the virtual people for carless locations astir the world. (A BMW worker besides rides successful the rider spot to ticker the roadworthy and property an other brake pedal successful beforehand of them if needed.)

In immoderate ways, the conception was inspired by M Town, which was a integer metropolis that BMW M created respective years ago. Alex Kuttner — the BMW M technologist who came up with the thought for the VR acquisition — said fans person said they’d spell to M Town if it were a existent place, truthful helium decided to effort and marque it.

“M Town is simply a mindset,” Kuttner said. “It’s a municipality wherever everything is possible, and that was the infinitesimal I realized we aren’t lone present for selling products. We’re present for selling emotions and experiences. These 2 things combined successful mixed world are lone the commencement of thing truly large successful the future.”

Driving innovation from Munich to M Town

When BMW began processing the mixed-reality task astir 2 years ago, the institution primitively planned to make it for the M5 exemplary sports car. However, the institution past decided to plan it for the M2, which volition beryllium released successful the spring. According to BMW executives, aboriginal uses could see grooming drivers, programming tracks, and processing planetary racing competitions that tin instrumentality spot each astatine the aforesaid time.

The thought was a accidental to “give radical country to research caller things without having to deliberation astir a concern lawsuit from time one,” BMW M CEO Frank van Meel told Digiday. He said it besides allows them to “have an answer” by processing the tech.

“I deliberation the absorbing happening is present we person an answer, and the question is, what is the question to this answer?” van Meel said. “There are truthful galore ideas. We haven’t recovered the last answers, but we’re moving connected each of these kinds of ideas.”

The acquisition isn’t thing for the masses — astatine slightest not yet — but BMW flew successful respective gamers and contented creators to thrust astir the parking batch successful VR. Among them was a gamer and Twitch streamer named Cailee, who besides flew retired to Munich to beryllium a portion of BMW’s teaser video for the experience. A subordinate of the G2 esports squad that plays the car-soccer video crippled Rocket League, Cailee said she’d played VR before, but “nothing this crazy.” She said she thinks different games would besides spot the entreaty of it, some for amusive and competitively.

“It’s conscionable the astir insane acquisition I’ve ever, ever had,” she said. “I play Rocket League, I’ve sunk truthful galore hours into it and everything, but I truly cannot picture the acquisition that I had successful Munich.”

Last week successful Lisbon, Digiday did a demo of the acquisition successful an bare suburban parking batch extracurricular the Portuguese superior wherever the satellite premiere was acceptable up. Despite immoderate VR experiences having a integer hold that gives radical question sickness oregon makes them consciousness little real, each enactment I made successful BMW’s people perfectly matched however it felt to thrust the existent car.

During the archetypal thigh done the integer metropolis,, I drove astir dilatory collecting coins and avoiding different obstacles on the way. On 2nd and 3rd laps, a clip constituent challenged maine to thrust faster, creating the thrill of an existent contention — and the existent feelings that travel with accelerating, taking crisp turns and braking. However, the virtual satellite allowed the suspension of reality, with each thigh making maine consciousness much comfy astir driving faster and taking sharper turns.

Turning the conveyance itself into a controller illustrates BMW’s involvement successful gaming, said David Hartono, originative tech manager and co-founder of Monogrid. Just past month, BMW announced a caller concern with AirConsole to play games connected the in-car show surface portion the car is parked. He added that the VR acquisition helps “strengthen their representation arsenic a pioneer and avant-garde car successful presumption of technology.”

“It’s a masterpiece of mixed reality,” said Sean MacPhedran, elder manager of innovation astatine the westbound coast-based autarkic bureau SCS, who added that BMW’s task is simply a “cool measurement up” from however radical already wage to thrust luxury cars astir a track. However, it besides helps exemplify the company’s capabilities successful a consumer-friendly way.

“With BMW doing truthful overmuch enactment with mixed world and concern 4.0, it’s hard to telegraph that to a consumer,” MacPhedran said. “A user doesn’t attraction astir each the worldly you’re doing to marque a car that overmuch better. It benignant of reminds maine of however they amusement the car successful the upwind tunnel, but present they’re doing this to amusement however precocious a car is.”

Why car brands are driving VR innovation

Over the past fewer years, a fig of automotive brands person experimented with augmented and virtual reality. Last year, the luxury electrical car startup Lucid uses VR successful its New York City showroom to fto radical beryllium wrong a virtual mentation of a car and spot what assorted designs look like. Earlier successful 2022, Audi and Porsche some announced in-car VR amusement systems done caller partnerships with the startup Holoride. Various car brands person besides experimented implicit the past fewer years with designing cars utilizing VR and different uses for augmented world specified arsenic for repairs.

Many car companies look for ways to support up with the pressures of technological advancement, but BMW has been much assertive with taking risks, said Mike Ramsey, vp expert for Gartner’s CIO Research Group. (He mentioned BMW was a pioneer successful investing successful multimedia systems and besides aboriginal to integrate Alexa into vehicles.) However, helium thinks the VR acquisition seems much astir brand-building than uncovering a existent concern case.

“It’s 1 of those things that each azygous car institution is investing successful but cipher has figured retired what the concern worth is,” helium said. “Augmented reality, virtual reality, each of these technologies. For a institution that has a performance-oriented orientation, they’re going to look astatine that arsenic a mode to grow their marque beyond the carnal to wherever you travel, truthful to speak.”

What makes BMW’s acquisition unsocial is utilizing real-life interactions with real-time sensors, said Heiko Wenczel, manager of UE concern for HMI and car astatine Epic Games, which helped BMW plan the experience. He added that being capable to trial and consciousness thing successful VR is simply a large payment for designing real-life products.

“You tin construe that into immoderate portion of the manufacturing and automotive world,” Wenczel said. “Like erstwhile you plan you get real-time feedback automatically, similar what that is, and the quality standard of designing cars and similar knowing what mobility volition beryllium successful the aboriginal needs that benignant of enactment successful real-time.”

Instead of the “first impulse” companies often person to find a circumstantial crushed for processing thing and however to marque wealth from it, van Meel said it’s inactive adjuvant to commencement with immoderate low-budget backing adjacent without each the questions answered. Although BMW wouldn’t disclose however overmuch it spent connected the project, van Meel said it’s not “millions and millions of Euros.” He added that the fund was “quite lean” since it mostly required conscionable a mixed world setup and the machine successful the car.

“If you instrumentality a measurement backmost and you say, well, it’s not finished yet, but I tin spot a batch of creativity and a batch of imaginable that is inactive a small spot unclear,” helium said. “You conscionable should fto it hap if it’s not insanely expensive, of course, due to the fact that past you request to marque decisions close away.”